Despite all the slating going on in this review, Goodbye Volcano High is likely to appeal to those who want an uncomplicated and down-to-earth narrative experience. There are glimpses of goodness within Goodbye Volcano High’s grounds, but the bland writing, cliched characters and needlessly protracted scenes don’t do it any favours. The rhythm action sections are swell additions that break up the long-winded cutscenes, but they too are overstuffed with timed button press prompts, as they end up feeling too hectic for their own good. Goodbye Volcano High overstays its welcome in spite of its 5-hour length, lumbering along without any significant drama until the climax approaches, so it’s questionable whether you’d stay the course or find something more dramatic to satiate your appetite for good videogame yarns. If this is indeed goodbye to Volcano High, then its demise will shed only a shrug of disappointment.
If you want a new roguelike to play that’s more on the gentle and forgiving side, Dust & Neon certainly isn’t a bad effort. The gunplay is satisfying, making you feel like a badass gunslinger, but there’s too much to fault regarding its repetition and sense of sterility that what glimmers of goodness there are get submerged in banality. Whether it’s the feather-thin story and context, the dull mission objectives, or the general lack of character, Dust & Neon fails to make the most out of its Western setting and its pleasing gunplay. Dust & Neon is worth unloading bullets into robot cores for an hour or two, but it won’t sustain you for too long afterwards. Consider this one scrapped.
It’s been a long time coming, but Oxenfree II: Lost Signals has landed with the sense of mystery and intrigue that made the original game such a hit. The use of walkie-talkies throughout is a great source of communication, and the chemistry between Riley and Jacob brings in a sense of homeliness that’s comforting, even when the paranormal forces encroach upon you, spiralling you into their otherworldly insanity. Like the first game, it’s short and you may find yourself getting lost at times, but this is a stunningly haunting sequel that deserves your attention.
If you’re after a passable RTS, there are worse options to plump for than Dark Descent. Ably evoking the claustrophobic and unsettling mood of the Alien franchise, Dark Descent may please fans of the franchise with its desperate firefights and tense stealth sections. However, it doesn’t push the envelope in regards to anything it does, failing to wholly immerse you in its story thanks to mediocre dialogue and vapid characters, compromised by finnicky management systems, leaving you confined to a temporarily terrifying but otherwise banal and toothless RTS. It may be tempting for Alien devotees, but don’t be surprised if Dark Descent devours your patience quicker than an alien pouncing on its military prey.
Comfortingly, AEW: Fight Forever fits into a snug middle-ground, where it’s neither a huge triple-A feast, nor a dainty indie curiosity. It’s just a pretty damn cool wrestling game, delivering arcadey grappling, awesome minigames, and an enjoyably moreish Road To Elite career mode. The simplified fighting systems may feel lightweight next to the competition, but they allow Fight Forever to feel like a proper pick-up-and-play wrestling game. As long as you don’t go in demanding a gigantic roster, an exhaustive list of moves, and plenty of match types, this will be the wrestling videogame you’ve waited a very long time for. Like the tag team of Max Caster and Anthony Bowens, AEW: Fight Forever is The Acclaimed.
Twenty years since Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life first released on the GameCube, it’s disappointing that this modern reimagining is such a half-baked effort that’s considerably grind-inducing and disappointingly lacking in meaningful social interactions. Yes, A Wonderful Life has a beautiful and welcoming heart and presence, and the remake does do a serviceable job of updating a two-decade-old game for modern standards, and it can be a worthwhile and relaxing time if you aren’t so demanding for change. But there’s so much tedium to endure it’s hard to remain interested, especially when there are far more inviting alternatives out there.
The return of Layers of Fear is a welcome one thanks to the power and immersion provided by Unreal Engine 5, meaningfully evolving Layers of Fear in a way you simply won’t ever want to look back from. The environmental details and subtleties are undoubtedly impressive and worthy of kudos. However, save for the overhauled ambience and a decent new chapter, the gameplay remains disappointingly unchanged and overly tedious. Though the atmosphere is suitably spooky, the genuine scares never come. To its credit, it does try to get you when you’re unaware, but it’s hard to feel the jolt of the jump scares on offer because they aren’t set up well enough to surprise you. As a polished reworking of Layers of Fear, this latest entry is aesthetically pleasing, it just needed to be a scarier game.
Far be it to appear crotchety, but F1 23 is yet another yearly Formula One game that sports only incremental improvements, many of which are minor or otherwise injected with travail. Yes, it’s harsh to expect a yearly entry in a sports franchise to totally change the game, but F1 23 could’ve at least conjured up a feature that’d plant a seed for something extraordinary in future entries. But alas, it’s a mostly-safe F1 game riding on the successes of previous F1 installments. Braking Point 2.0 does offer some solid (if sometimes cringe-inducing) drama, the driving mechanics and presentation continue to impress, and generally, to an outlier, this is one fabulous F1 game. However, resting on your laurels only gets you so far, and F1 23 has failed to move the needle in regards to making F1 games even more compelling than they already are. By all means, pick up and relish another core EA and Codemasters F1 outing, but it’s time the series stopped playing it safe and gave us something audaciously new.
At times, it feels like Planet of Lana tragically works to oppose itself. For every bit of exquisite scenery and artistic richness, there’s gameplay that’s overly familiar, rote and unappealing. It’s a shame that such a stylistically spellbinding game is compromised by its dearth of exciting gameplay ideas. Planet of Lana is by no means a shoddy game. It’s actually pretty good thanks to a cocktail of challenging puzzles and pinpoint platforming. However, its lack of innovation, as well as its myriad of little kinks, stop it from becoming a true exemplar of the genre. For all Planet of Lana is, it really could’ve and really should’ve been so much more.
Utterly shambolic in almost every way, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is an abject failure as a stealth and traversal game, continuously tripping over itself with technical incompetence to such an extent it’s virtually impossible to recommend. Featuring monotonous climbing and sneaking mechanics, cheap deaths from heights akin to a paddling pool, a boring structure, plain and uninteresting characters, a host of technical blemishes, mostly-poor visuals, a woodpecker-quality soundtrack, and an overall dismal and trying experience, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum is absolutely atrocious. Much like its protagonist, it’s a cursed product that should be cast into the smoldering fires of Mount Doom.
For what it offers, Fitness Circuit is a nice entry to the list of games on Nintendo Switch featuring an exercise niche. Workouts are as relaxed or as energetic as you want them to be, and the sessions are ideal for short daily bursts of play, intended for those who find themselves incurred with busy schedules. Unfortunately, there isn’t much here to keep you invested in the long run, the lack of incentives to actively engage you are threadbare, and there isn’t the substance necessary to keep you hooked for long. You might like Fitness Circuit as a reliable exercise companion for a little while, but before long, it’ll run out of steam, and you’ll revert to a more substantial package.
If you’ve been salivating for a new old-school RPG on modern consoles, Live A Live is a proper treat. The selection of stories you play are lovely and varied, the beautifully upscaled look of the game brings details to vibrant new life, and there is a lot of retro arcadey goodness in here to bask in. Furthermore, the shortness of each individual story makes each of them easy to play without feeling overloaded or that you’re missing something. Live A Live can get tricky, its grid-based battle system is a little passe, and it isn’t the most awe-inspiring remake you ever saw, but it’s a lovingly crafted revitalization that will please anybody with a fondness for old-school JRPGs.
As reductive as it may seem, Mia And The Dragon Princess is just another Wales Interactive FMV drama. Nothing here stands out besides a smidge of animation here, and a bit of foreign language there – oh, and a few minor laughs at some of the idiotic dialogue. There’s a minor level of entertainment you can summon from Mia and Marshanda’s exploits, but once you’ve polished off a first run, you will only bother going back either out of curiosity to see how alternative scenes and endings play out, or for trophies or achievements. At the end of the day, there simply isn’t much here to hold your attention. And like in previous Wales Interactive efforts, a lot of the scenes become skippable, so Mia And The Dragon Princess is another title that can be gorged through like a starving child when he glimpses a box of Celebrations. But unlike Celebrations, it doesn’t have the quantity nor the quality to entice you to keep on feasting, it’ll instead make you feel full all too quickly.
Tedium is at a premium in Dead Island 2, but miraculously it has enough exuberance within its limb-carving gameplay to avoid falling into the damning pit of mediocrity. There’s plenty here to savour, both in solo and co-operative play too, so you aren’t without things to do. And the modifications, card system, and special skills of each playable character all go far in Dead Island 2’s favour. Yes, it can be a slog, and yes, it does outstay its welcome, but it can also be pretty badass, too. So if you can forgive a litany of eye-rolling modern triple-A videogame trappings, Dead Island 2 can be a zombie-squelching good time.
In games of Guns N’ Runs’ ilk, it’s ok to fight against the odds. But the major difference that separates this game from similar titles is that time and time again, Guns N’ Runs proves itself able to entertain for a few minutes, before devolving into a gnawingly rote annoyance that constantly battles against players with its terrible tutorials, minimal health bar, lack of power-ups, dearth of weaponry, paint-by-numbers design and a chugging framerate. There is clearly a love for the retro classics, which the presentation and soundtrack evoke lovingly, but the frustrations inherent in the gameplay are a bit too much to ignore. Give Guns N’ Runs a try and you may like it for a spell; just be warned that you will likely grow bored of it sooner rather than later.
Enriched lovingly with scenic qualities and bolstered by the delightful day/night contrast to which it excels at evoking a juicily contradictive atmosphere, Dredge may not look like a meaty steamboat-empowered expedition, but when you find yourself supplementing your vessel with new hulls and boosts, as well as interacting with the various personalities sequestered on each of the islands you visit, Dredge may look like shallow waters, but it’ll surprise at how quickly it can submerge you in its depths. No, Dredge did not need the horrors of the nighttime, and banging into suddenly-appearing rocks can prove a hassle, but Dredge is otherwise a splendid offering that’s certainly worth checking out.